Summer music festivals start comeback tour, with some pandemic tweaks

Jul 8, 2021
After most events were canceled in 2020, there are still questions about how comfortable concertgoers may be with crowds.
Bands and festival organizers are bringing back live music audiences this summer, said industry consultant Karen Allen.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

As the CCP celebrates its centennial, how communist is China's economy?

Jul 6, 2021
Starting in 1978, China’s ruling Communist Party has steadily embraced market reforms and transformed the country into the world’s second largest economy. What remains of the Chinese socialist system?
Young Chinese listening to punk music at the MIDI rock music festival in June.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Nashville music industry wants more help with reopening from city

May 31, 2021
In "Music City," independent venues and musicians say they could use more resources to bring audiences back.
Daniel Walker (left) and Amy Dee Richardson stand on the porch outside Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge.
Paige Pfleger

Live music is coming back, but shows will look different

Apr 26, 2021
Limited audience capacity and higher ticket prices are some of the changes concertgoers can expect this summer.
Bad Bunny on stage in Los Angeles in 2018. Presale ticket purchases for his 2022 tour set a record on Ticketmaster.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Apple is investing in a company that lets musicians own their work

Mar 31, 2021
UnitedMasters helps artists distribute music, but it is unclear if this type of alternative model will further disrupt the major record label system.
Rich Fury/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

African American music museum joins Nashville’s downtown lineup

Feb 15, 2021
The new interactive museum joins the city's Country Music Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame and songwriting museum as tourist draw.
Guests enjoy interactive displays in the center of the museum, while walls feature a “takeover” performance by artist Prince.
Colleen Phelps

You heard that song on TikTok first, or was it Roblox?

Feb 2, 2021
Warner Music's quarterly report shows that social media and gaming platforms are increasingly important to the industry.
When it comes to music during the pandemic, apps like TikTok are front and center.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Hundreds of small music venues are struggling to stay open

Jan 11, 2021
Live music venues have largely gone dark during the pandemic, along with the economies of many historically vibrant music scenes throughout the country.
The closed Roxy nightclub and music venue on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. With many performance venues shuttered, musicians have fewer opportunities to develop their sound.
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

What makes Christmas music so lucrative?

Dec 23, 2020
The Christmas music industry churns out money-making covers every year, but it’s not so easy to pen a new classic.
Queen Of Christmas, Mariah Carey performs her holiday smash hits at the Beacon Theatre in 2014 in New York City.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Maroon Ent

There's only one Spanish-language Christmas classic topping the charts

Dec 22, 2020
That's despite Latin music’s growing strength in the industry.
Only one Spanish-language song has cracked the lucrative Christmas charts: Jose Feliciano’s "Feliz Navidad," released in 1970.
RCA Records/Getty Images